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Biggest English Cities by Century

Try to name the 5 most populous cities in England for each of the following years.
Quiz by relessness
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Last updated: October 27, 2020
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First submittedJanuary 24, 2013
Times taken84,287
Average score58.3%
Rating4.91
2:00
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Keep scrolling down for answers and more stats ...
2001
7,172,036
London
970,892
Birmingham
469,017
Liverpool
443,247
Leeds
439,866
Sheffield
 
 
1750
675,000
London
45,000
Bristol
22,000
Liverpool
24,000
Birmingham
18,000
Manchester
1901
6,339,500
London
702,200
Liverpool
543,900
Manchester
522,200
Birmingham
429,000
Leeds
 
 
1377
23,314
London
7,248
York
6,345
Bristol
4,817
Coventry
3,952
Norwich
1801
959,000
London
90,000
Manchester
80,000
Liverpool
74,000
Birmingham
64,000
Bristol
 
 
1066
10,000
London
6,000
Winchester
5,000
York
5,000
Norwich
5,000
Lincoln
+5
Level 48
Apr 12, 2014
Very interesting quiz, thank you! Surprised myself by guessing all of them correctly.
+4
Level 56
Mar 13, 2015
The front page calls this quiz "Biggest English Cities by Letter" (March 13). Good quiz anyway!
+2
Level 56
Mar 14, 2015
Nevermind, it got fixed.
+5
Level 55
Oct 31, 2016
Suprisingly, 5k takes and still not featured!
+9
Level ∞
Oct 31, 2016
And, it has a 4.5+ rating. I suppose we better feature it!
+4
Level 82
Nov 18, 2016
Interesting, famous cathedral cities help :)
+3
Level 81
Jan 3, 2017
Where has Manchester gone from the 2001 list?
+2
Level 60
Feb 8, 2017
Manchester city is quite small but has a huge metro area. Besides other things, "Greater Manchester" includes the separate city of Salford.
+4
Level 70
Sep 10, 2018
The same is true of London. The City of London is one of the smallest cities proper in the UK by population. And although Salford like to think they are a separate city, they are really not any more in any meaningful way.
+1
Level 44
Aug 20, 2022
I know what you mean! Between 1901 and 2001, it looks like thousands moved out of Liverpool and Manchester. How can there be less in 2001?
+3
Level 65
Jan 20, 2017
Only missed Coventry, didn't cross my mind at all for that time frame.
+2
Level 89
Feb 8, 2017
I remembered Coventry from Batman: Arkham City, of all things.
+2
Level 52
Jan 23, 2017
Isn't it just "England" and not "the England"...?
+3
Level 58
Feb 8, 2017
Source?
+7
Level 67
Jun 6, 2017
Mustard.
+16
Level 63
Jun 19, 2017
That's right I'm the source.
+4
Level 66
Apr 8, 2020
Custard with mustard? oddsauce
+3
Level 80
Feb 10, 2017
Never would have guessed Norwich. First thing I've learned today.
+2
Level 58
Nov 14, 2020
yeah it's surprising. But it was an important city for East Anglia where both Saxons and Danes lived
+1
Level 39
Jun 26, 2021
it has grown a lot in recent years greater Norwich is getting massive
+1
Level 38
Mar 17, 2023
It was Lincoln for me, got Norwich at the last second
+1
Level 69
Feb 11, 2017
London population for 1901 looks wrong.
+4
Level 75
Apr 5, 2017
Great quiz. Would love to see these on several different countries.
+2
Level 69
Dec 2, 2017
Interesting- just been checking on Manchester City Council’s website (not that I don’t believe you or anything ;-) :

‘In the fifty years between 1951 and 2001, the population of the city fell by 39.9%, from 703,100 to 423,000.’

Decline of manufacturing jobs. I’m learning a lot this morning, thanks!

+2
Level 62
Nov 15, 2020
But the metro area became huge, and is now the second largest in the UK
+1
Level 67
Jul 15, 2021
3rd after London and Birmingham metro areas
+4
Level 86
Jun 1, 2018
Curious--is there a particular significance to the year 1377?
+2
Level 73
Aug 6, 2018
Good question for Google, maybe. The only thing that I can think of is the death of Edward III and the coronation of Richard II.
+4
Level 70
Sep 10, 2018
The Black Death.
+1
Level 82
Jun 25, 2019
I missed Bristol and Winchester
+3
Level 62
Aug 26, 2019
Just going by city limits is stupid - Manchester has 3 million in the urban area
+4
Level 70
Oct 18, 2019
Also inconsistent since the population for London seems to include all of Greater London in some years (but maybe not all), while the other populations are for the city proper.
+2
Level 29
Feb 17, 2020
I thought Hastings for 1066
+1
Level 36
Sep 11, 2022
Me too, because of the battle of Hastings right?
+1
Level 65
Oct 3, 2023
Which didn't happen in Hastings, but in the town now called Battle.
+2
Level 66
Apr 8, 2020
Man... I feel silly, took me quite a while before I realised it was english, not global...must ve allready tried 10-15 cities not getting why certain answers werent accepted. Did manage to get all but the bottom 3 when time ran out, which even if I had that minute I wasted, might not have gotten.

Would ve missed coventry for sure. In some other quizzes I sometimes guess lincoln and winchester, so maaaybe, but then again maybe they wouldnt come up, maybe I would think I overlooked some more obvious ones.

+3
Level 51
Apr 8, 2020
Surprised not to find Bath here.
+1
Level 56
Nov 10, 2020
What an interesting quiz. I was so sure Manchester was right for today that I didn't even notice that I needed to guess one more (Sheffield). Duh!
+2
Level 64
May 24, 2021
Totally misread this as British cities, not English. Was so busy yelling at my phone when Glasgow didn't appear, I missed most of the rest!
+2
Level 37
Jan 5, 2023
when you're from bristol and forget to put type it in
+1
Level 51
Feb 3, 2023
why there be a city named after an american president in engl*nd o-O
+3
Level 38
Mar 17, 2023
I really hope this is a joke
+1
Level 46
Feb 13, 2023
missed coventry and winchester!
+1
Level 67
Mar 2, 2024
Coventry was bombed during WW2, so I guessed it.